CV evidence · All applicants
How to review a CV match score
If a CV tool gives you a match score, look at the comparison behind the number. Which requirements have a relevant example, and which need more detail? This guide helps you use the underlying text to review your application and understand what a percentage leaves out.
What to take with you
- Ask what a result measures.
- Inspect the passage behind each finding.
- Separate document review from hiring decisions.
Identify the question the check can answer
Start with the question you need answered: which requirements in this vacancy can I support with my experience? A text comparison can help you find related passages and missing examples. Read those passages before acting on a score, then check the responsibilities and eligibility conditions in the original vacancy.
Jobvance's free check shows findings such as direct wording found, related passage, no passage found and manual review needed. These labels describe a document comparison. Read the method explanation and the passages rather than turning the counts into a percentage of qualification. A direct match remains something you need to verify.
Source for the published guidance: Jobvance: How the application workflow works.
Watch for the same words doing different work
A vacancy might ask for leading a team while your CV describes supporting a team lead. Both contain related words, but the responsibilities differ. A listed tool is different from an example of using that tool. An academic project can show skill without proving a stated requirement for professional experience.
Read the context around every apparent match. Check the verb, setting, time period, result and your contribution. If a tool displays a passage without explaining the connection, supply that explanation yourself. It may be relevant, partial or misleading. Similar wording should begin the review, not end it.
Separate document gaps from experience gaps
No passage found may mean the CV omitted useful experience. It may also mean the check missed a synonym or that the experience is absent. Start by asking whether you have a truthful example. Add one if you do, with enough context for a person to understand it. Do not insert the vacancy's phrase as an unsupported claim.
If the experience is absent, decide what that means for this role. A preferred tool may be a development question; an essential professional licence is a different condition. Preserve the employer's wording. The comparison tool does not decide which requirements the employer will relax or what evidence they will accept.
A CV and vacancy both mention 'financial modelling'. The candidate's evidence is a classroom case using teaching data, while the role asks for several years of investment modelling work. The shared phrase is useful to discuss, but it does not establish the required professional background or justify a high hiring-probability score.
Review the employer's process independently
Application systems vary. Greenhouse documents that some layouts and file structures can cause incomplete parsing. That is a reason to inspect extracted fields, not evidence for a universal 'ATS pass' percentage. File readability, relevant experience and employer selection are separate parts of an application.
Do not optimise a document by hiding keywords or repeating requirements without examples. A person still needs to understand your contribution, and form answers may ask for eligibility separately. Keep the document readable and the facts consistent. If a check fails to recognise an accurate passage, consider clearer wording rather than changing the underlying claim.
Source for the published guidance: Greenhouse: Unsuccessful resume parse.
Make a decision from a short evidence note
Before applying, write three observations: the strongest relevant example, the most important unresolved requirement and the next action. This produces a decision you can explain. A number alone cannot tell you whether to verify a qualification, add a missing passage, ask a question or leave the role aside.
Use the free CV check as a starting point, review every finding and approve the wording yourself. Keep any remaining gap visible. The useful outcome is a truthful CV and a deliberate application choice. Neither a document check nor a rewrite can guarantee an interview, a job or how an employer will assess your application.
Sources and further reading
The links support the specific guidance cited above. Our checklists and worked examples show how to put the guidance into practice. Read current official requirements before acting.